John Hattie's 10th Mindframe for Learning - Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground - Education Week
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Education Week's blogs > Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground
John Hattie's 10th Mindframe for Learning
By Peter DeWitt on October 20, 2015 7:40 AM
We all teach, lead and learn under different Mindframes. They envelope our personal lives as well as into our professional conversations. John Hattie, someone I have worked with for the last year and a half as a Visible Learning trainer, has written extensively about the nine Mindframes our students need for learning (click here for his guest blog when there were 7). Those Mindframes are equally as important for teachers and school leaders as well.
I agree with the article that I am A Change Agent. This is the reason that I became a teacher. But yet, so many times we or I forget our purpose and our passion. We get so caught up in the day to day that we do not fully live up to our potential. We forget that we have an audience and that we can make a difference in their lives and their learning.
Last week, as some of us presented with Hattie on his jam-packed presentation tour across the U.S., he announced a 10th mindframe, which is easy to discuss but less easy to put into practice. First and foremost, Hattie believes that in order to maximize learning we need to make sure that we embody the following 9 mindframes:
I am an evaluator -Evaluation isn't just about the formal evaluation that comes down from the state education department and district offices. As educators we all have to evaluate whether our practices are bringing out the best learning in our students. After all, in Hattie's words we have to "Know Thy Impact."
Students can’t be evaluated just based on a test, but what they show us on a daily basis. If we focus on test scores, we miss the actual growth that is taking place.
I am a change agent - In these days of more accountability and more on the plates of teachers and leaders, it's easy to feel as though we are victims to our present educational situations. Hattie believes we have to change our mindsets to understanding we are change
I agree that we are change agents but cannot have an impact on students if we are feeling overwhelmed and down about our career. I feel like teaching is so important in student’s lives. In some cases, we are the only change agents for them!
agents. This is important, because research shows that when teachers have a low level of efficacy they feel as though they don't have any impact on student learning, which doesn't put them in the role of change agent at all. It's important for leaders to establish a school climate that fosters an increased sense of teacher efficacy, so that they can build collective teacher efficacy as a staff, and help teachers realize they may be one of the only change agents in a child's life.
I know that teachers need professional development to keep skills current. But, sometimes, I want less of that and more time to plan for the great learning. There never seems to be enough time to plan thoughtfully for the best or deepest learning while still getting all the other things done.
I talk about learning and not about teaching - When we talk about teaching we are focusing on the adult in the room and very often forget about the students. The adult is important, but focusing on the student is more important. In the Politics of Distraction, Hattie wrote that school stakeholders, policymakers and politicians talk a great deal about the adult issues in school, such as unions, prep time and teacher evaluation, but not enough time discussing learning.
Students are more important. They are the reason we are here as educators
I see assessment as feedback to me - Ward et al wrote that schools are awash with data but very often the data that we all have access to is not used at the depth that it could be because data has been used as a "gotcha" instead of a tool that could lead to deeper conversations. What sort of formative assessment (click here for this guest blog by Shirley Clarke) are we doing to make sure that what we are doing in the classroom is actually working?
I engage in dialogue and not monologue - In these days of 24/7 communication tools I wonder if we really listen to one another any better than we did before we had access to those tools? Do we engage in dialogue where we listen to the thoughts of the person on the other side of the conversation, or do we use the conversation to merely get our own self-interests across? In the classroom with students, do teachers listen to students or just lecture and talk at students without giving them enough time to debate and discuss?
Our curriculum puts an emphasis on student discussion and conversations. The teacher is more a facilitator than an instructor.
I enjoy challenge - Hattie believes we spend too much time giving students answers to questions that they struggle with in the classroom; instead of taking the opportunity to teach them that error is the best way to learn. It's through error that they dig deep within themselves. This will work better, if at a young age, we teach students that learning is not always easy, which is one of the greatest parts of it.
This right here. This paragraph resonates the most because it serves as the foundation for my teaching philosophy. I think the best way to learn is through experience and discovery. Information sticks better when a student is able to personally come to the realization themselves of the answer. Productive struggle and encouraging failure is good because it’s more reflective of the real world. This is why I structure my courses around projects and design thinking, trying to encourage students to tap into creativity and increase their critical thinking skills.
I agree with this statement. Too often, students are willing to give up rather than persist on more challenging assignments. They need to feel free to make mistakes.
And some have been taught that it is ok to give up, that we will save them, instead of letting them fail.
Often times students are SO afraid to make mistakes that they miss out on actually developing their own thoughts for fear of being wrong without ever knowing for certain if they were accurate or not.
I like to convey to students that they should view the errors/mistakes they make as learning opportunities. Whenever they take the time to examine their mistakes, students can often find that more impactful on learning than the questions they answer correctly.
This can be difficult but really important for student learning.
I engage in positive relationships - In Hattie's work he has shown that teacher-student relationships have an effect size of .72 which is nearly double the hinge point (.40) he found through his research that offers a year's worth of growth for a year's input. Positive relationships, whether through teacher-student relationships, or the relationships students have with peers, can have an enormous benefit.
This I believe is the most important part of my work as a counselor, but also critical to any one working in a school. If I can make a student feel just a little more comfortable, a little more welcome, or a little more important, I believe he or she will have a reason to show up. Without a positive relationship, a student would never be invested in our work together and would negate the reason I am here!
I think having positive student relationships is an important foundation for being an effective teacher. Of course you, as the teacher know the content, and can explain it, but if you have a positive relationship with students this can be so impactful on student motivation!If students feel more comfortable in class, they will be more willing to learn and try, therefore will perform better.
Having a positive relationship with students allows the student to trust you as a teacher and trust themselves to believe that they can achieve anything they want to achieve! Also, if you have a positive relationship with a student they will feel more comfortable coming to you with anything they are struggling with.
Building relationships is very important when trying to reach students that are not willing participates in their own learning. Unless they buy into the idea that you care about their well being they can be obstinate towards change.
There are two types of relationships that need to be made. One is a general relationship with the group and the other is a personal relationship with individual students.
This is the one I resonate with the most. I want students to know that they’re cared for, and that school is a safe place.
By building strong relationships, teachers are not only building trust, but they are building a bond to help students get through the struggle of learning and mastering.
I use the language of learning - The focus on learning is important, which is why we need to talk about it more than we talk about teaching. However, having common language around learning is the crucial next step. Schools that focus on learner dispositions and teach students how and when to use them can help change the mindset of school stakeholders.
I see learning as hard work - All of the above Mindframes come together in this mindframe. Engaging in dialogue, diving deeply into assessment data, teaching students about learning dispositions, and becoming change agents is no easy task, which is why learning is hard work.
Students can’t use these mindframes unless they are aware of them. When and how can the students learn about them?
The 10th mindframe that Hattie released last week is:
I Collaborate - Hattie not only has 10 mindframes but within his research he found 150 influences on learning, which continues to grow. I collaborate is crucial to the influence that is near the top spot, which is collective teacher efficacy. We, as adults, teach students about the importance of collaboration, and team sports have hopefully been focusing on that issue as well. Unfortunately, adults still don't collaborate as grade levels and departments nearly as often as they should. It happens in pockets, but not always across schools.
In the End
The Mindframes of learning are important, and I'm not just saying that because I am a Visible Learning trainer and work with John Hattie. Adults go to counselors and invest a great deal of time and energy into practices that will help them shift their Mindframes at home. We need to do the same for our Mindframes that we carry to work with us every day.
Collaboration, which brings together diverse thinkers who engage in authentic conversation, can help shift our thinking which inspires us to grow as learners. It's why Twitter is so popular with educators because they find professional and personal learning networks which help them think outside the box. Imagine how much better it would be if we didn't always have to go to social networking for that and could find it within our own buildings as well.
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Categories: Classroom Environment |
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Tags: Cheryl Ward Collaboration |
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General Document Comments 0
I know that collaborate is very useful but it is a learning curve for me due to the amount of noise in the classroom. I’m old school but I know that is where learning is going to prepare students for future jobs. I am trying differents strategies to incorporate collaboration into my lesson plans more.
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